


Flames

by Joesgirlfriendandpercyssister



Category: Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon
Genre: Fire, Gen, Why is joe always in trouble, kidnaping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 15:19:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16518989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joesgirlfriendandpercyssister/pseuds/Joesgirlfriendandpercyssister
Summary: Joe gets kidnapped again





	1. Chapter 1

The yellow-orange flames gave off an acidic smoke that burned Joe's throat. His hands and feet were bound to the arms of the chair with coarse rope. He struggled as the flames crept closer and closer, hurting his already raw wrists that was tied to the chair.

His concussed head was feeling the strain, as he waited for Frank to turn up. His older brother was the smart one who didn't get himself caught by the psychopaths. He tried to remember how he had gotten into this situation in the first place.

It all started on their first day of the summer holidays when the weather was nice and hot. The two brothers were taking a trip down to the beach. Joe watched his brother from the passenger seat. 

The boy in question was staring at the road, biting the side of his lip in concentration, something that their father did. Joe smiled when he thought of the similarities between the two. Frank Hardy was eighteen, a year older than Joe and inherited his father's looks. Girls always thought him to be the tall, dark and handsome type.

Joe was his exact opposite. He was a year younger, blonde hair and blue eyes, to Frank's brown hair and brown eyes. He inherited his mother's looks. However, the two were still best friends who would do anything for the other.

The cloudless, cobalt blue sky looked down on the two boys as they drove to the beach in the scorching heat. Driving along the road, music blaring in the background, life couldn't have been better for the teens as they thought about the swimming and the girls, in Joe's mind anyway. 

Suddenly, their world jerked violently forward. A black SUV smashed into the rear of their silver Ford. Joe's head hit the dashboard. Frank started to turn the wheel frantically, trying to gain control of the car as it was pushed into the guardrail. He kept talking to Joe but the ringing in his ears was too much. Eventually, he gave in to the blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

As Joe slowly came to, he felt sluggish. He groaned and put his hands to his head , to somehow help the pain in his head. Or tried to. 

Joe found that he couldn't move his hands, and as he looked down, he could see, through unfocused eyes, that his wrists were bound to the arms to a chair with coarse rope.

He began to think, Frank... what happened to Frank? He struggled wildly, looking around for his brother. Not seeing him brought panic to Joe. Where was his brother? Was he dead? Did the people who grabbed him kill him? 

Soon, worry made him take notice of his own situation. Not again, he thought. This happened to be the seventeenth time he was kidnapped in two years. And every time he got kidnapped, he ended up in hospital. He gathered that this occasion wouldn't be an exception.

Joe looked around him. All that was in his view was greasy looking walls, a wooden door and some boxes. So, he was in a warehouse. What was with bad guys and abandoned warehouses and basements?? Like seriously, he thought as the wooden door, he had spotted earlier, opened. 

As the bright light hit Joe's eyes, it made his eyes water as the concussion protested profusely. 

"Ah, good. You're awake. About time," came the voice. 'American, southern, maybe Florida, male ,' Joe thought. 

Joe's head suddenly snapped to the side as the man slapped him across the face. Ugh, his concussion was not happy with that. 

"Your father put me in jail fifteen years ago. Fifteen years of my life I can never get back because of your father. So, I'm going to take something of his that he can never get back. His son..."

Joe rolled his eyes. 

"You have fun with that," came the response. A punch to the gut. A moan came from the blonde youth. A camera fell across Joe's vision. "Smile for the camera," the man smiled and turned on the camera. 

"Hello, my old friend Fenton. It's really good to hear from you after you put me prison all those years ago. Now, I hear your son is missing. Would you like to say hello to him?"

Joe winced.

"Dad, whatever this moron is planning, don't listen to him. I'm fine." And for his trouble, he got punched in the face. The man held a knife to his throat, leaned over Joe and whispered in his ear,"try anything like that again and you wouldn't have a head to go back to your family." To the camera, he confidently said, 

" you put me in prison for fifteen years and those fifteen years are something that I want back so I'll take from you something that you want back but will never get back, your son. You will keep getting these video until he dies, in a very horrible, nasty way. Enjoy it while it lasts." He moved away from the camera and a large bucket of water and provided to pour all over Joe. 

He waved. And the video cut off.


	3. Chapter 3

The man wandered off to his laptop and began typing. Joe tried to gather his thoughts but the cold kept seeping through.

 

He began to shiver, which he knew meant that his core temperature was dropping meaning if he didn’t get warm soon, he would eventually get hypothermia. But highering his body temperature was not looking likely.

 

“Hey, man. Listen, I don’t know what you want but if you let me go now, I won’t press charges,” Joe tried to bargain with the man but the man wasn't buying it.

 

He just calmly walked over to Joe, threw an amazing right hook at Joe, getting it to connect with his jaw. Dazed, Joe unsuccessfully, to regain his balance, the unknown person inserted a gag into his mouth. He began to walk away, then stopped.

 

He looked like he was thinking about something to Joe. Suddenly, he turned back to Joe and pulled another piece of cloth from his back pocket. Joe began to struggle, knowing what it was, but to no avail. The man covered Joe’s eyes with a blindfold, but it wasn't easy for him. Joe’s struggling made it hard to get the cloth over his eyes. He socked Joe in the stomach, making his breath leave his body. 

 

Joe’s world was submerged in darkness. His shivering had stopped, which was a bad sign. It meant that hypothermia had set in and that he was now too cold and too exhausted for even the shivers that always tell you your temperature. Despite that, the acidic smoke burned his throat. That meant fire. God, how he wished for a rescue…

 

He felt unconsciousness drifted towards him. He knew it was from smoke inhalation. It caught him in its flow and let him drift off.

 

If he had held on for two minutes longer, he would have heard the commotion of the police entering the room. He would have heard Frank yelling his name, yanking his bonds, tying them and holding him, calling his name all the while.

 

Consciousness came back to Joe in the hospital, in the form of the beeps of the heart monitor. He watched as his brother was asleep in the uncomfortable plastic chair beside his bed. Joe fell back asleep, knowing he was safe.


End file.
